As Sandy shifted south and west, most of the North Country went relatively untouched — but videos circulated online of fierce wind roiling the waters of Lake George, throwing waves up on shore.

Michael Grant shot his video from the waterfront of Lake George village around 2:45 Monday afternoon. He shows me images of his iPhone.

"Pretty big swells for Lake George," he says, but Grant points out that he's seen worse winds up on the summit of mountains in the Adirondacks. He says it was like standing on a High Peak in the Adirondacks on a blustery day.

Just up the road in Bolton Landing, Charlie Anderson is just heading out to check facilities on the lake. Anderson is with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and it's his job to help run and maintain the network of campgrounds on the shore and the islands. He says memories of Tropical Storm Irene are fresh.

"That was pretty intense," he recalls. "We had high winds, a lot of wave action, a lot of boats sunk, property damage."

Charlie Andreson, NYSDEC, patrols Lake George after Hurricane Sandy (Photo: Brian Mann)

But on this day, it's a bullet dodged. As we cruise across the lake, even last night's chop has subsided. It's calm and beautiful with the last of the fall color rising into a misty blue sky.

Lake George the morning after the storm (Photo: Brian Mann

The construction site that Anderson was most worried about is in good shape. "It looks everything here is fine," he says.

As the North Country stands down from emergency readiness, local crews are preparing to head downstate to help with recovery efforts near New York City. 

According to the Adirodack Daily Enterprise, a rescue crew from Franklin County is already on Long Island.